UK WILPF gives evidence to UK Parliament

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On 22nd February, UK WILPF gave written evidence to the UK Parliament’s International Relations Committee on Foreign Policy in Changed World Conditions. You can read our full submission here, and the other oral and written evidence presented as well here.

In this, we urged the UK government to utilise the UN system and develop our ties with other countries through other supranational organisations such as the Commonwealth. Also, highlighting how the government should take greater notice of the activities of civil society groups.

The government should be more susceptible to activities of civil society which utilises social
media and other digital technologies as well as more conventional methods to mobilise and
connect individuals, local, national and international networks, and global institutions setting
and achieving its political goals. The UK should work internationally through the UN and
other institutions to be more responsive to civil society’s voices, reaching agreements for the
welfare of the people and planet such as climate change and banning nuclear weapons (by
signing the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons). Existing and new structural
inequalities that can influence on negotiation and decision-making processes should be
addressed, as all parts of society should be represented in negotiations and decision making.

We, furthermore, weighed up the debates on the benefits and potential costs of digital media. Underlining the recent proliferation of fake news and its negative effects on democracy.

Key to our message was also negotiation and how we should be privileging global welfare over trying to gain strategic advantage.

We thank the UK government for giving us this opportunity. As well as Maki Kimura and Pat Pleasance and the Orpington Branch for compiling this evidence together.